


the bonding of four awkward straightn’t coders

by leon_kinda_sus



Category: Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist (TV)
Genre: Bonding, F/M, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, i might add zoey x max but eh, mitch dying is mentioned, takes place a few months after 1x12, there’s no point to this, they argue about coffee
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:01:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24016366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leon_kinda_sus/pseuds/leon_kinda_sus
Summary: a few months after mitch passes and zoey and max get promoted, tobin and leif surprise max during a late night working on the chirp.
Relationships: Leif Donnelly & Tobin Batra, Max Richman & Leif Donnelly, Max Richman & Tobin Batra, Zoey Clarke & Leif Donnelly, Zoey Clarke & Max Richman, Zoey Clarke & Tobin Batra
Comments: 14
Kudos: 31





	the bonding of four awkward straightn’t coders

Max was really goddamn sick of the CHIRP.

It was a decent idea, but the late nights that came with programming it were less than ideal. Especially after the stress of managing the fourth floor in Zoey’s place after she’d been promoted to Joan’s former position. Joan had accepted the offer to run SPRQPoint temporarily and Zoey had promoted her best friend(???) to her former position. So here he was, stuck at the office at midnight working with Zoey, along with his formerly least favorite people, Leif and Tobin.

Honestly, they’d mellowed out after a while, with Leif apologizing for inadvertently getting Max fired and Tobin becoming less of an ass to Zoey after Mitch’s passing a few months prior. But other than Leif’s apology and them giving Zoey their condolences after Mitch died, they’d avoided really talking to each other. But stuck at the office after-hours, Max really needed someone to break the annoying silence. But he sure as hell wasn’t going to. Luckily, he didn’t have to.

“Man, true crime is fucked.”

The hot take had come from Tobin, who’d taken off the headphones he’d been wearing for the past two hours. Max could silently agree, since Zoey had gotten him to listen to her favorite podcast. 

“I stopped listening to mine after the Golden State Killer episode.” the redhead admitted, crunching on some kale chips. Max remembered that day with a pang of sadness, realizing that that had been the day when she’d told him about her powers. He brushed the thought away.

“Dude, that’s literally the episode I just finished. It’s crazy, y’know?” Tobin asked Zoey, who nodded. Had Tobin just duded her? Max was honestly starting to think that they were... bonding?

“I actually managed to get one past that episode, do I get a prize?” Max chimed in. Tobin snorted.

“You get my respect.” Leif added, turning around from his spot at his standing desk. Max let out a strained laugh.

“Your life’s dream, I’m sure.” The blond deadpanned. Zoey let out one of her cute giggles. Max laughed too, but this one was more real.

“Oh, always.” he quipped. This was going surprisingly well? He’d even surprised himself by actually talking to Leif. Max turned back to his laptop as Zoey and Tobin continued to talk about their podcast.

“I’m going on a coffee run. What do you guys want?” Leif asked a few minutes later. 

“I mean, if you can manage to find a coffeeshop open at quarter past twelve, just black coffee for me please.” Max replied, earning an eye roll from Zoey.

“I am not a soulless monster, so I’ll have one cream and five sugars in mine.” Max groaned. 

“How in the name of anything can you have FIVE sugars?” Tobin asked Zoey, stealing the words from Max’s mouth. His best friend shrugged.

“At least I don’t drink black coffee.” Zoey shot back, sending Max a pointed glance. He shrugged.

“Black coffee is the way, ZZTop.” Tobin told her, using Joan’s old joking nickname for her. She visibly cringed at that, and Leif laughed. 

“Okay, thanks. Be back in a little bit.” He said, heading to the elevators. Tobin waved and Zoey turned her attention back to the code.

Max smiled slightly. Maybe being stuck at work wasn’t going to be the worst.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this to cope with the finale  
> please leave comments they give me serotonin


End file.
